CHINA
Ten dead in mine blast
At least 10 people were killed and six are missing after an accident at a coal mine in Henan Province, state media said yesterday. The accident, a likely coal and gas explosion described as an “outburst,” happened at about 2:55pm on Friday in Pingdingshan, China Central Television said. Search-and-rescue efforts were continuing, it added. Xinhua news agency said that 425 people were working underground when the blast occurred. Those in charge of the mine have been taken into custody by authorities, it said.
AUSTRALIA
Taiwanese wins Hobart
Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico yesterday dominated China’s Guo Hanyu (郭涵煜) and Jiang Xinyu (蔣欣玗) in straight sets to win the women’s doubles final at the Hobart International tennis tournament. Second seeds and Olmos beat the Chinese duo 6-3, 6-3, recovering after crashing out of the round of 16 at the Brisbane International earlier this month. Chan and her sister, Latisha Chan (詹詠然), bagged a gold medal for Taiwan in doubles at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in October last year.
NEW ZEALAND
Ardern marries
After almost five years of engagement and a postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, former prime minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday married longtime partner Clarke Gayford in a private ceremony. Details of the event were closely held by the pair, but the ceremony is reported to have been staged at a luxury vineyard in the scenic Hawke’s Bay region, 325km from the capital, Wellington. Earlier, police met with a small group of protesters who had plastered a wall with dozens of anti-vaccination posters outside the venue. One protester was also seen holding a sign that read: “Lest we forget jab mandates,” on the outskirts of the property.
TURKEY
Military strikes hit Iraq
The military yesterday carried out airstrikes targeting Kurdish militants in neighboring Iraq and Syria, the Ministry of National Defense said. The strikes came a day after an attack on a Turkish military base in Iraq killed nine Turkish soldiers. The government often launches strikes against targets in Syria and Iraq that it believes to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a banned separatist group that has waged insurgency since the 1980s. The defense ministry said fighter jets destroyed caves, bunkers, shelters and oil facilities “to eliminate terrorist attacks against our people and security forces ... and to ensure our border security.” The statement added “many” militants were “neutralized” in the strikes.
ECUADOR
Five more inmates escape
At least five inmates on Friday evening escaped from the vast Guayaquil prison complex, with two of them caught shortly afterward during a vast search operation, police sources said. Shortly after their escape, two helicopters, as well as drones, flew over the surroundings of the huge prison, on the northern outskirts of the city. Authorities and the prison administration have not made an official statement so far. Since Sunday last week, the country has been plunged into an unprecedented security crisis sparked by the escape from Guayaquil prison of one of the country’s most powerful narco bosses, Jose Adolfo Macias, known by the alias “Fito.” His escape was followed by prison riots, hostage-taking and attacks on the police.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
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